Can You Scrap a JDM Import or Right-Hand-Drive Car in Richmond?
If your car came off a boat instead of a Canadian factory line, scrapping it works the same way as any other vehicle. Right-hand-drive (RHD) and JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) imports are common in Richmond specifically — the city has one of the Lower Mainland’s biggest clusters of JDM import dealers, specialty mechanics, and enthusiast shops, so we get this question a lot from Richmond sellers. The short answer: yes, we buy JDM and right-hand-drive cars, vans, and Kei trucks exactly like we buy any other end-of-life vehicle. Here’s what actually matters when you’re ready to scrap one.
The 15-year import rule doesn’t affect scrapping
Most of the confusion around JDM cars comes from Canada’s import rule, not anything to do with scrapping them. Under federal rules, a vehicle becomes eligible to import into Canada once it reaches 15 years from its month and year of manufacture — not the model year, the actual build date. That rule governs whether a car was allowed into the country in the first place. It has nothing to do with whether you can scrap it once it’s here. Once a JDM import has cleared that process (or if you’re not sure it ever fully did), our job is just to buy the vehicle and recycle it responsibly — we’re not re-litigating its import history.
What paperwork you need is the same as any car
Whether your import is fully plated and insured through ICBC, sitting on old out-of-province registration, or still on the export paperwork from Japan because it never got put on the road here, we can usually still make a deal work. Ideally you’ll have:
- Proof you own the vehicle — a BC Certificate of Registration/Insurance if it’s plated, or the import/export paperwork and bill of sale if it isn’t
- Government-issued photo ID matching the name on the ownership documents
- The keys, if you still have them (not a dealbreaker if you don’t)
If your car was never registered with ICBC at all — some JDM imports sit in a garage for years as a project that never got finished — that’s fine too. We’ll walk you through exactly what we need over the phone before the tow truck shows up. For the general rundown on documents we ask for, see our full paperwork guide.
Does right-hand-drive change the payout?
It depends on the vehicle, same as with any car. What changes the offer is condition, weight, and whether there’s parts demand — not which side the steering wheel is on. Popular JDM models (certain Skylines, Silvias, Kei trucks, and vans) sometimes have real demand for used parts, which can work in your favour. A rusted-out shell with no resale-worthy parts is priced closer to scrap metal value regardless of badge or drivetrain layout. Either way, we give you a real number over the phone before anything is booked — see our guide on how scrap car prices actually work in BC for the full breakdown.
Do you need to tell ICBC?
If the vehicle is currently plated and insured, yes — the same ICBC deregistration step applies to a JDM import as it does to a Honda Civic. We cover exactly how that works, and what happens if you skip it, in our guide on notifying ICBC when you scrap a car. If the car was never registered in BC in the first place, there’s nothing to deregister — we’ll confirm ownership through the import paperwork instead.
Scrapping a JDM or RHD car in Richmond
We tow from anywhere in Richmond, including off driveways, shared strata parking, and storage yards where a lot of import projects tend to end up. Same-day pickup is usually available, payment is on the spot, and we handle the towing at no cost to you. Check out our Richmond scrap car removal page for local pickup details, or just give us a call and describe what you’ve got — import history included, no judgment.
Got a JDM import, Kei truck, or right-hand-drive vehicle you’re ready to be done with? Contact us for a free, no-obligation quote.